Chapter 69 - The Weak Me of the Past Is Already Dead

“You're really calling it Mimi?”

“I can't think of a good name for now.”

“...You like cats?”

“They're alright.”

Luo He looked at the little cat that had fallen back into a deep sleep and shook his head.

“Perhaps I just simply don't like to see anything locked up.”

“......”

Su Huanhuan didn't reply. Instead, she looked behind her at those village children, who had long since cried their tears dry, and were now looking at her numbly and fearfully.

“Then what about these? What do you plan to do? Send them back to your little bamboo forest together?”

The tiger demon... or rather, Mimi's physical body died, and those resentful souls were also dispersed by Luo He.

The karmic poison remaining in its essence blood was originally formed from resentment qi, so it naturally dissipated along with it.

These children, for the time being, no longer had their lives in danger. All that remained were the benefits left from ingesting the demon tiger's essence blood.

But, they were still children after all, or rather, still mortals.

Leaving them here was equivalent to letting them fend for themselves.

Do you say they are at fault? Perhaps.

The tiger demon essence blood they swallowed was real; the benefits they gained were real.

To say they aren't at fault? Perhaps not.

They were just listening to their parents. What tiger demon, what evil art, how could they know?

This world is just full of this kind of messed-up business where you can't pick out whose fault it is, but it leaves people helpless.

“What do you think?”

Luo He tossed the question back to Su Huanhuan.

“These children swallowed the demon tiger's essence blood. Although it's faint, it can be considered as having a slight immortal opportunity.”

“And I count as the enemy who wiped out their entire village. Look at this one, this one, and this one—they're all quite grown, can remember things, and remember my face.”

“If you let me choose, naturally, killing them is the best.”

“Mm, then you kill them.”

Luo He nodded his head and replied.

“Happy to save a cat, but unwilling to save people?”

“Cats are easy to save; people are not easy to save.”

“You say it so lightly...”

Su Huanhuan replied while materializing a blood sword in her hand, walking towards the oldest girl among the group of children.

She looked at her without sorrow or joy, looking at the mixed expression of grief, numbness, despair, and fear on her face.

Afterwards, she swung the sword down.

Clack clack.

Accompanied by a clattering sound, the bone necklace around the girl's neck fell to the ground.

Afterwards, she lifted this girl straight up and said into her ear:

“You, go pack up all the remaining food in your village and whatever things you can carry, take these little companions of yours, and walk towards the north side of this mountain.”

"Walk to the mountain top and look down, you can see a small city. That's called Xianfeng City. That's the place you need to go."

"On the way, you are not allowed to abandon others and run off on your own, nor are you allowed to kick others out of the group."

Afterwards, Su Huanhuan casually drew an imprint and pressed it straight into the girl's neck.

Accompanied by the girl's pained sound, Su Huanhuan continued to speak:

“This demonic imprint can help you drive away wild beasts and mosquitoes, but it can only last for one month. If you can't make it within one month, you figure it out yourselves.”

“If you heard me, then hurry up and get moving for me.”

Afterwards, Su Huanhuan put the girl down and walked straight to one side.

“Did you figure out my thoughts long ago?”

“I certainly did not.”

“Luo He, I always feel I've changed a lot being with you. I'm becoming weak, and I really don't like this.”

“Is that so?”

Luo He's gaze as he looked at Su Huanhuan, rarely, became gentle.

This gentleness, Su Huanhuan had seen it before.

In the past, she really disliked this gaze that looked down on her.

Su Huanhuan really disliked the feeling of being looked down upon, being selected, being eliminated.

“When I was seven, I was sold by my father to a trash evil cultivator to be a medicinal ingredient.”

Su Huanhuan looked at Luo He and suddenly began to speak, as if to herself:

“Because after his selection, he thought I, being the oldest, a girl, and able to do the least work, was the most useless one.”

“In the Remnant Moon Sect, bottom-tier disciples are the slaves of the upper-layer disciples.”

“But I didn't even count as a slave, because my talent was so bad that those geniuses disdained even having me run errands for them.”

“Later, I climbed up to True Disciple. I found my parents and my-then younger brothers and sisters.”

“They originally had five; two died, and one was sold, leaving only two, thin as two monkeys.”

“My parents couldn't even recognize me. When they saw me arrive, they trembled, knelt down, and begged me, this Reverend Immortal, to help them.”

“But this entire way, who helped me?”

Su Huanhuan's tone was calm, as if narrating someone else's story.

But for Su Huanhuan, who was accustomed to putting on a smiling face, this kind of hard and taciturn, silent impression was the truest reflection of her inner heart.

“So, Luo He, I cannot be weak. As soon as I'm weak, I feel uneasy.”

At this moment, Su Huanhuan's state of mind was very unstable, because she discovered she had made a choice that was not consistent with the principles of the path she had always followed.

She was hesitating and conflicted; she somewhat couldn't see the changes in herself clearly.

But the most important thing was...

She was very uneasy.

Luo He didn't speak, but just silently entered her body.

His arrival illuminated her dantian, enriched her spiritual platform. Compared to Luo He floating outside, this allowed her to recognize his existence even more clearly.

He was just that unique, as if tailor-made by heaven, appearing by her side.

“I didn't see your weakness, Su Huanhuan.”

“On the contrary, I feel you've become stronger.”

“......”

“You're starting to accept more choices; you're starting to set other routes for yourself.”

“And having more choices, as well as the courage to make new choices... are all symbols of the strong.”

“The weak you of the past, perhaps already waved goodbye to you at some moment, it's just that you yourself haven't realized it yet.”

“You let that girl go, just like you let your past self go.”

“Next, you should just walk the road ahead properly.”

“......”

Su Huanhuan suddenly felt that the statement she had made earlier was slightly biased.

She really couldn't say that along this whole road, no one had helped her.

At least there was this one person, who had cared for her, helped her, who after she had experienced so many abandonments and screenings in the past, stood on her side in this current situation where she was condemned by all.

Although the time wasn't long, not longer than her past, its weight was very heavy, pressing on her heart.

One wasn't many, but it was just right.

Su Huanhuan was petty, and her heart was small too.

“Stupid fox.”

“I'm here.”

She really did seem to have embarked on a new path, a path where she might no longer have to walk on thin ice.

But this stupid fox didn't seem to realize that this path was dug open by him for her in the first place, and he had pulled her onto it.

“I really have been led astray by you, hmph.”

“Then do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It's not clear now; I'll only know in the future. But one thing is for sure...”

“I, Su Huanhuan, am a very troublesome woman. You've influenced me this much, so just be prepared to be entangled by me.”

“When the time comes, I'll make you regret it to death; even if you want to run, you won't be able to escape.”

“Hahaha...”

“What's so funny!”

……

After a short while, the group of remaining children in the village had assembled.

The older girl leading them counted the numbers, and had the bigger children hold the smaller children and line up.

She herself silently shouldered the largest bundle.

That gray-robed woman had long since gone who knows where. She didn't dare, and didn't want, to think too deeply about it.

Just as she was about to set off, she suddenly discovered a man holding an umbrella walking towards her.

He squatted down in front of her, his face calm.

“What's your name?”

“......”

The girl didn't answer him.

He wasn't annoyed either, but just like performing a magic trick, he took out a small, entirely snow-white cat from his bosom.

“Pretty?”

“......”

“You can pet it.”

“......”

“If you don't pet it, you're not allowed to go.”

The girl did as he said.

The little cat hazily opened its scarlet eyes, looked at the girl, and then looked at Luo He.

It went back to sleep again.